The present invention relates to a method of operating a plurality of utilities in a geographical region, such as a town or city. The present invention also relates to a utilities network system for carrying out the method, and to a control device for such a network system.
It is well known to provide computer control of one or more utilities serving a geographical region, such as a town or city. For example, a utility such as an electric power supply network, including one or more power stations and a grid of transmission lines, may be controlled in dependence on the power required by the users connected to the network. The computer control seeks to achieve optimum power generation in dependence on predicted and actual power requirements. Similar control of utilities such as water supply and/or sewage networks may be achieved using suitable computer systems. Moreover, the increasing power of computer systems has enabled computer control of other utilities, such as a road network traffic control system, to ensure that traffic flows as smoothly as possible, without traffic jams. In general, in the prior art, each such utility has been operated independently of all other utilities serving the geographical region. No account has been taken of the effects of one utility on another.
There have been proposals for physical integration of utilities, such as generating electric power using heat produced from waste disposal. Thus, JP-A-4-97401 disclosed an integrated utilities plant in which various utilities were physically integrated, so that energy resources could be transferred between such utilities.
Furthermore, JP-A-4-131600 disclosed a plan for supplying heat to a community in which the plant was run on the basis of predicted variations in heat demand, but also on the basis of a modification based on the number of people in the community at any time.